This invention relates to a grain harvesting machine and more particularly to a machine for stripping the seeds or grain from a standing crop while leaving the stem of the crop attached to the soil.
While most grain today is harvested by machines that sever the upper seed bearing portions of the crop material from the lower stem portions that are left attached to the soil, and then separate the grain or seeds from the rest of the crop material, it is known to harvest such crops by machines that do not sever the stems of the crop from the field, but rather strip the grain from the standing crop while leaving the stems of the crop attached to the ground. Such machines have the advantage of not taking a high volume of unwanted crop material into the machine, although some chaff or material other than grain is necessarily taken into the machine along with the seeds that are stripped from the standing crop. However, the reduced volume of crop material handled by such stripping machines does mean that the machine can be simpler and smaller than the conventional machines that handle the entire plant or substantial portions of the plant.
One such stripper type harvester is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Ser. Nos. 371,741 and 375,838, both of which are asssigned to the assignee herein. However, the grain stripper disclosed in said patent applications does not include means for cleaning the crop material stripped from the standing plant. In other cases, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 2,526,141, the stripping mechanisms are attached as headers for conventional combines, the material stripped from the crop being fed to the conventional combine for the separation and cleaning of the grain or seeds. However, the use of a conventional combine eliminates the size and simplicity advantages of a stripper type harvester.
Another type stripper harvester having a relatively simple type cleaning mechanism is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,739,907.